American expansion westward into the new lands began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial government was established. There he confirmed Napolons desire to sell the territory for $22,500,000. The scene caused a servant to faint, and when Lucien lingered to try to argue the point, Napoleon said to his brother that if he opposed him he would break him like a snuffbox which he smashed into the floor. Why did the French leave Louisiana? A picturesque assemblage of French and Spanish colonial architecture and Creole cottages, New Orleans boasted a thriving economy based largely on agricultural exports. All Rights Reserved. According to the University of Kentucky, slaves outnumbered free people at least 10 to 1. As a result, Napoleon's view of Louisiana transformed from that of an outpost to that of a poker chip, ready to cash in. Hed planned to send troops to Louisiana to take over the colony, which he had received from the Spanish through a secrettreatyin 1800, in the hopes ofusingthe territory as a trade venue for the commodities produced in Haiti. Explanation: Dont worry about it sweatheart. Morales proclamation meant that American merchandise could no longer be stored in New Orleans warehouses. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries among the members of the Union. But by the time Victor assembled enough men and ships in January 1803, ice blocked the Dutchport, making it impossible for him to set sail. Joseph A. Harriss Despite a clubfoot and what contemporaries called his dead eyes, he could be charming and witty when he wantedwhich helped camouflage his basic negotiating tactic of delay. [59] In 1808 two military forts with trading factories were built, Fort Osage along the Missouri River in western present-day Missouri and Fort Madison along the Upper Mississippi River in eastern present-day Iowa. Under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, slaves took over the entire island of Hispaniola, including St. Domingue and its neighbor Santo Domingo. As discussed in the Journal of Economic History, France had a historically bad reputation for credit and finance due to the upheavals of the French Revolution. The asking price was $125 million. Napoleon wanted its revenues and productivity for France restored. They approached the French with the offer to buy New Orleans, a port city of vital significance to American trade that they worried about France owning. When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history Joseph A. Harriss April 2003 The Louisiana Purchase nearly. Twelve years before, he had returned from a five-year stint as American minister to Paris, shipping home 86 cases of furnishings and books he had picked up there. However, the territory north of the 49th parallel (including the Milk River and Poplar River watersheds) was ceded to the UK in exchange for parts of the Red River Basin south of 49th parallel in the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a temporary solution. It would have seemed unthinkable for France to cede any of its colonial territories before 1791. But in 1800, the region again changed hands, when Napolon negotiated the clandestine Treaty of San Ildefonso with Spains Charles IV. The risk of another power taking it from a weakened Spain made a "profound reconsideration" of this policy necessary. Saint-Domingue was a powder keg, ready to explode. Privacy Statement Lucien said that the legislative chambers of the French government would not approve it, to which Napoleon replied that he would do it without their consent. There was also concern that an increase in the number of slave-holding states created out of the new territory would exacerbate divisions between North and South. We strive for accuracy and fairness. For another, Britain had unofficially offered Joseph a bribe of 100,000 to persuade Napolon not to let the Americans have Louisiana. [40], To pay for the land, the American government used a mix of sovereign bonds and the assumption of French debts. Why did France want to sell the Louisiana Territory? (Livingston) Napoleon intended to gain money by selling Louisiana. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream.. The Real Reason France Sold The Louisiana Territory To The United States, National Museum of American History/Wikimedia Commons, National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons. Du Pont was living in the United States at the time and had close ties to Jefferson as well as the prominent politicians in France. But the resourceful Barb-Marbois had an answer for that too. We have tried to capture the suspense and fascination of a story whose outcome is known, yet was not foreordained, says Gail Feigenbaum, curator of the Jefferson-Napolon show on view in New Orleans April 12 to August 31, and to tell it through a rich variety of objects. The variety includes three important documents: a copy of the treaty, which bears Jeffersons signature; a document covering payment of claims by American citizens against France, signed by Napolon; and the official report of transfer of the Louisiana Territory signed by a bereaved prefect, Pierre de Laussat. Louisiana Purchase of 1803 | Napoleon Bonaparte of France By early April, 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte had had a change of mind and decided to sell the entire Louisiana Territory. This created an unstable situation at the western border which could draw his young country into the Napoleonic Wars. [28], Henry Adams claimed "The sale of Louisiana to the United States was trebly invalid; if it were French property, Bonaparte could not constitutionally alienate it without the consent of the French Chambers; if it were Spanish property, he could not alienate it at all; if Spain had a right of reclamation, his sale was worthless. Nobody really knows what post-victory plans for New Orleans and Upper Louisiana were given by the British government to Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and his second-in-command Major General Samuel Gibbs because both generals were killed in action at the Battle of New Orleans. The purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel. Thus, the correct answer is option A. [5], In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting Americans. Slavery was now legal in Missouri, and the new state added pro-slave members to Congress. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. In a way, this almost came to pass in the War of 1812. Albany, GA (31701) Today. Napoleonic France Acquires Louisiana Jefferson, as a strict constructionist, was right to be concerned about staying within the bounds of the Constitution, but felt the power of these arguments and was willing to "acquiesce with satisfaction" if the Congress approved the treaty. The Louisiana Purchase, made 200 years ago this month, nearly doubled the size of the United States. The Louisiana territory was born on April 9, 1682, when the French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur (Lord) de La Salle, erected a cross and column near the mouth of the Mississippi and solemnly read a declaration to a group of bemused Indians. At the time of the purchase, the territory of Louisiana's non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were enslaved Africans. France regained sovereignty of the western territory in the secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared its independence. Its believed that the failure of France to put down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable British naval blockade of France combined with French economic difficulties may have prompted Napoleon to offer Louisiana for sale to the United States. The final price after the 15-year bonds were paid was $27 million, still a very good deal for the United States, and not really a bad one for Napoleon, considering the pressure he was under to dump the territory. [1][2], Domestic opposition and constitutionality, Formal transfers and initial organization. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. With the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, this is one of the threethings that created the modern United States, says Douglas Brinkley, director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies in New Orleans and coauthor with the late Stephen E. Ambrose of The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation. How did the French Own Louisiana? Although the purchase was undeniably a bargain, the price was still more than the young U.S. treasury could afford. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. A manservant slumped to the floor in a faint. Peace is our passion, he declared, and expressed the concern that hotheaded members of the opposition Federalist Party might force us into war. He had already instructed Livingston in early 1802 to approach Napolons foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, to try to prevent the cession of the territory to France, if this had not already occurred, or, if the deal was done, to try to purchase New Orleans. However, in 1800 Spain had ceded the Louisiana territory back to France as part of Napoleon's secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. The bank then turned over ownership of the Louisiana Territory to the United States in return for bonds, which were repaid over 15 years at 6 percent interest, making the final purchase price around $27 million. 20 Why did France no longer need Louisiana quizlet? PBS describes how by 1812, France had increased its army strength to 600,000 men, not to mention the thousands in the navy. 4 and 7. successful French demand for an indemnity, Indian Territory Indian Reserve and Louisiana Purchase, Foreign affairs of the Jefferson administration, Territorial evolution of the United States, Territories of the United States on stamps, "The True Cost of the Louisiana Purchase", "Congressional series of United States public documents", "Milestones: 18011829 Office of the Historian", "3 Of The Most Lucrative Land Deals In History", "Primary Documents of American History: Louisiana Purchase", "America's Louisiana Purchase: Noble Bargain, Difficult Journey", "The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson's constitutional gamble", National Archives and Records Administration, "Aspecten van de Geschiedenis van Hope & Co en van Gelieerde Ondernemingen", "Convention Between the United States of America and the French Republic (Article III)", "Statutes & Constitution :Constitution: Online Sunshine", "Slave Freedom Suits before Dred Scott: The Case of Marie Jean Scypion's Descendants", Case and Controversies in U.S. History, Page 42, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louisiana_Purchase&oldid=1150213397, Gleijeses, Piero. What was the most important effect of the Louisiana Purchase? The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. [52] If the territory included all the tributaries of the Mississippi on its western bank, the northern reaches of the purchase extended into the equally ill-defined British possessionRupert's Land of British North America, now part of Canada. Your Privacy Rights The following year, the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana. See chapter iii, "Treaty Ceding Louisiana to the United States" (1803 ff.). The difficulties and risks . What if France did not sell Louisiana? We also show that our political and cultural relationship with France was extraordinarily rich at the time, a spirited interchange that altered the shape of the modern world.. Feb 14, 2023 - France sold the Louisiana Territory in 1803 because it was ruled by Napoleon and needed money in order to fight the British. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. . According to the Library of Congress, Napoleon did not have enough troops to occupy Louisiana while simultaneously subduing Saint-Domingue. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. [57], The Louisiana Territory was broken into smaller portions for administration, and the territories passed slavery laws similar to those in the southern states but incorporating provisions from the preceding French and Spanish rule (for instance, Spain had prohibited slavery of Native Americans in 1769, but some slaves of mixed African-Native American descent were still being held in St. Louis in Upper Louisiana when the U.S. took over). Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.
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